The Burden of Bending
by Angry Nazar
Summary: Formerly known as One Day in Laogai, number one of the Postbellum series. Jeong Jeong is said to envy waterbenders, right? One autumn, he encounters a waterbender that regrets its skill. They then know that every forms bending is not warranted to be worry-free ... Featuring the unlucky Cabbage Merchant! WARNING: Suicide attempt portrayal


_Disclaimer: _Pokemon_ and _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ belong to their respective owners. This fanfic is A: tLA-centric. Hikari (my OC) has very different background from Hikari (aka Dawn, from fourth generation Pokemon franchise)._

_Sentences between single-quotation marks means the line was spoken telepathically (or mumbled, or it was simply an unusual term, but you should be able to tell which is which _^_^"_)._

_Have you imagined, in a Pokemon/A:tLA crossfic, that a pokemon can also bend elements like human benders do? Here we go~ _\(^^)/

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xx(V)xx(V)xx

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_An autumn on Lake Laogai, four years after the Hundred Years' War was ended ..._

Earlier that day, Jeong Jeong heard a rumor that a Stoutland was sighted earthbending. It's not that earthbending is an unwelcome sight in Ba Sing Se, being the capital of Earth Kingdom and all, it's just astounding for him to find a dog like that earthbend like a pro – only to find that it belongs to Toph, one of the, if not the, greatest earthbenders of that time. (Of course, Bumi sr. would have a doubt if she's the stronger one, though both knew the other had their merits.) She was looking for metalbending disciples then, her faithful dog and Sokka, rumored to be her boyfriend, tagging along. They were having a 'brunch' when two airborne assassins (they knew well about their target's ability to sense someone on the ground) trying to kill her. Thanks to the dog, they are alerted of the assassins (and dealt them accordingly).

Now, as he walks at the edge of Lake Laogai as sunset approaches, he met a handful of fishermen, albeit greeted only with a nod or something like that, trying not to attract attention into himself. With the underwater base of Dai Li abandoned, this once scary lake becomes a great source of fresh water fish for Ba Sing Se, and with the Harmony Restoration Movement in place, the fishermen do not necessarily come from the Earth Kingdom. There were a number of Fire Nation and Water Tribe fishermen too, looking to import the fish to their home nation at a 'ridiculous price'.

It's pretty much an open secret among the Lotus' top circle that Jeong Jeong has always envied waterbenders, for the reason he once told Katara after that accident. However, he wouldn't know that he's going to face someone who _regrets_ its waterbending skill.

* * *

_In the meanwhile, on one of the lake's pier..._

Someone, with a shoulder-length greenish hair, was sitting on a pier, her feet touching the waters of the lake. She appears to be... surrounded by an air of... regret? Anger? No one knows, but she seems to be crying bitterly over something. With her mixed-up emotions, she kicked the water with all the might she can spend. The water, then, forms a big wave, to everyone's surprise. She was surprised, too, although she's fully aware that she's a waterbender, and a powerful one at that. Thank God no one was in Lake Laogai by then, else someone will be swept by the incoming wave.

However, she's not an ordinary human. Heck, she's not even a human. Actually, she's a Gardevoir, whose 'master' (they pretty much regards each other like a close friend) is also a powerful waterbender, and one with a fair rank within the White Lotus for her age. Her younger brother, Hide, has been recently accepted into the Lotus, with his Pignite as his companion. (Some Lotus members have a Pokemon or two as personal companion, but their pokemons are required not to appear in full-scale battles, like the Siege of Ba Sing Se, except in the back lines.) His personal friendship with 'Kuzon' (i.e., Avatar Aang) made exactly no influence on his acceptance, though, because it was discovered to the Lotus a few days _after_ his acceptance.

But how come they became a waterbender within the territory of Fire Nation without being captured?

_Let's get back to Jeong Jeong's perspective ..._

The water blast surely attracted attention from everyone around the lake, including a certain former Fire Navy admiral. Assured that the blast is caused by a waterbender, he approached somebody sitting on the pier, asking, "Do you know who caused that blast?"

'I guess I did it,' the one on the pier replied _telepathically_.

"You're not a human," Jeong Jeong was surprised.

'Indeed I am. You can just call me Xue,' she answered.

"Listen, Xue," he crouched, trying to pat her 'shoulder', "I can't tell how I once wished I'm free from... this burning curse."

'Pardon?' is all she managed to tell.

"I once wished I'm not a firebender," he simply told.

'But, from what I heard from Hikari, you're a great master with powers I won't be able to try!' she protested.

"Hikari? Oh, I remember her having a chat with Katara after that dinner," Jeong Jeong mumbled. That day, around the end of summer, the Lotus held a party to celebrate that the War was ended exactly four years ago, with Team Avatar invited. Katara spotted her, then took the same table, which was different from Aang's.

'Beside, I once attempted suicide a few years ago, before the Comet's arrival, all due to my waterbending skills,' Xue told him.

"What? Why did you attempt suicide?" he was even more surprised than the time he found Xue isn't a human. As depressed as he is due to his firebending skills, he _has never_ attempted a suicide, although he nearly got a mortal wound in at least three of his assaults on an Earth Kingdom city-port during his time in the Fire Navy. The strictest measure he had done was taking an oath not teach anyone firebending, an oath he eventually broke before the Comet arrives.

'Because I am a bloodbender, and so does Hikari. She once told me that this Katara you mentioned is a bloodbender as well, all 'thanks' to her grandmother, Hama,' Xue explained in a downcast expression.

* * *

_Flash back – somewhere in the Fire Nation, two months before Sozin Comet's arrival_

"Xue? Xue? Where are you, you promised me we'll run together!" a panicked Hikari searched for Xue, then still a Kirlia, in the forest near their inn. The night before, which was a new moon, they planned to escape from the grasp of Hikari's grandmother, Hama, who terrorizes the village with her bloodbending, exacting her revenge to innocent Fire Nation villagers (as they have yet to contribute to the Hundred Years' War) around the inn pretty much every full moon for the last ten years, since the death of Hikari's mother (actually, she died by accident, but until the present day Hama still believes that her daughter, the only waterbender among her two children (Hikari's maternal uncle and father were firebenders, died in the War for the Fire Nation long before anyone knew Hikari will be a waterbender), was poisoned by the Fire Nation villagers), leaving them there to rot.

Hikari can only stand still as she saw the pokemon standing just in the other side of a pond, ready to collapse backward at any moment. Xue planned to commit a suicide by being drowned. Xue had a taste of irony, for sure – she just didn't know that the pond is not really deep, it would barely submerge Hikari's _shoulders_ (Hikari's height was then just more than twice Xue's, at about five feet and a half. Hikari knew the pond won't completely submerge her because she actually went to the pond to look for something. Xue had yet to dive in there.), but Xue thought it will be enough to submerge her short body, even if she's standing. Thanks to their bloodbending training since last summer, just as Xue evolved, they unwillingly helped Hama terrorizing their village. The training pretty much crippled Xue's cheerful side, leaving her fragile body filled with a fragile psyche (even for a psychic-type pokemon).

'Don't come closer,' she warned Hikari, ready to drop in.

"Listen to me. I did promise we'll run from her together, but not this way," Hikari tried to reason, to no avail.

'If only you didn't save me on that winter, I'd have died not of this heavy burden,' Xue replied.

"But you would, anyway, for the terrible snowstorm a few hours before," Hikari snapped. Three winters ago, when she's still a Ralts, she was trapped in a snow, separated from the rest of her family, desperately trying to get out of the snow. In fact, Hikari named her Xue (means 'snow' in Chinese) as a memory of their first encounter. "Where's the little Xue desperate to save her live three winters ago?" she asked, crying.

Without a word, Xue just fell down. Hikari then rushed to the pond, in fear that she will surely die a horrible death. However, before Hikari even managed to jump to the pond, her own reflex as a waterbender ultimately saved her from the irony she tried to reach. Xue suddenly launched herself to Hikari's direction, leaving her barely any moment to react. Soon enough, a 'projectile' that weighs around 20 kg (i.e., Xue) hits Hikari on her chest, sending the two of them backwards. Fortunately enough, Hikari managed to raise her hand over her chest to cover her ribcage, now wanting to get it broken.

They even hit a man behind them, who was spying at the affair. He then recruits Hikari, along with Xue, to join the Lotus, a 'secret organization currently looking for young members to protect its existence'.

The next thing they know is that Hikari's left lower arm was broken, pretty much forcing her to only use her right hand (which is, fortunately, her dominant hand – it's a feat among waterbenders to bend only using one's non-dominant arm for a prolonged time) to waterbend for a few weeks at the fastest. Aside of her waterbending skill, Hikari also had that quick reflex that saved her ribs - a second too late and Xue might've hit her ribs, probably killing her in the process. Probably it was her reflex that attracted the Lotus spy's attention.

* * *

_Flash forward – Xue and Jeong Jeong sitting in a pier on Lake Laogai (i.e., the current affair)_

'Only after the liberation of Ba Sing Se I thanked her that she had knocked my senses back. I dropped only because I lost balance, then,' she replied. 'Surely she's a strong girl.'

"Yes, I also believe she is. Even Pakku, 'notorious' among the Lotus' top circle for his sexist attitude – trust me, no one can blame it when you're raised in a sexist environment for over seventy years – says she is a strong waterbender for one who had spent their entire life in Fire Nation. She once confessed to Pakku, Iroh, Bumi, and me that she once bloodbent a snake, out of dire situation, _at noon_. We can only warn her not to pass the art dangerously, for reasons you two should be more familiar. Have she told you of this?" Jeong Jeong asked. Xue only nods her head.

'Do the War have anything to your regret?' she then asked. He only nods, then speaks, "I'm once a Fire Navy Admiral," which was enough to startle Xue.

"It was a long story, but after my long involvement with the Fire Nation, I started to wonder what does firebending mean, and it came to me to mean as destruction and pain. With all my guts, I deserted the military, vowed not to teach firebending, and lived. They say it 'earns' me a title, 'the Deserter', which turned me to a legend. Only after seven years I deserted the Fire Navy, before I forced to break my vow, I realized something: it's not about _what _you bend, but _how_ you bend, so my firebending went even more conservative than before I deserted. I guess Hikari didn't see what did I do back at the invasion, seeing she was behind the wall, but I carefully set my firewalls not to destroy the Army tanks, just to push them back. The Comet itself, whilst immensely helpful to the Fire Nation military, is not only beneficial to them, but to _all firebenders. _Don't you ever forget that," he ended his short story, emphasizing his last sentence. He don't want Xue to spread the word to incorrect peoples, since it is said that he's still wanted by the Fire Nation, so he took precautionary measure not to spill the bean too much. Unbeknown to him, though, he has been given amnesty by Fire Lord Zuko.

'The liberation was a memorable one to us,' Xue said, in a cheerful expression. 'I evolved to my current state when she was out to the walls of Ba Sing Se, when I fell asleep keeping her tent. After she arrived in front of her tent, I gave her one big hug, which I always wanted since our encounter. Too bad she replied the hug only with her right arm, but I guess it's because she's a careful girl, she asked me to help her tie her left arm before the invasion.' Actually, Hikari's left arm had just recovered during the siege, but for precautionary measures (hand movements can get wild when you're bending, whatever you bend), she got her left arm tied before she went to the battlefield.

"Wait, I can sense something big is coming," Jeong Jeong warned.

"At the count of three, let's jump our ways to the water," she finally spoke, although barely audible for his old ears. Jeong Jeong prepares to jump, when he heard sounds of crackling.

"1, 2,...," Xue counts as she prepares to jump, but he grabbed her 'hand', shocking her. Only as the thing passed in front of them, she realizes what was about: the thing is charged with powers similar to lightning and enveloped in a white flash. Lightning, as Iroh said, should not pass the heart, or it can be fatal, and that although Lake Laogai is more of a source of fresh water than salt water, he wouldn't want to risk to jump into the water, or the lightning might spread to the entire lake, endangering their lives. However, immediately after he pulled her, they find themselves in an awkward position. Jeong Jeong then lost his balance, and the two of them fell to the water, thankfully after the crackling – and flash – subsided, revealing an Emboar.

Just as they rose themselves and the Emboar to the pier – even with Xue's psychic powers, they were barely able to evacuate the drenched pig – they smelt a scent of burnt... vegetables?

"What was that smell?" asked Jeong Jeong. Xue just shrugs her shoulders.

* * *

~ _The Burden of Bending ~_

* * *

"Man, if a cup of ginger tea made him run straight to the lake, you should've kept your pig from a cup of chi-enhancing tea! I can't imagine what chaos will ensue," Aang scowled, giving Hide's shoulder a soft punch as they walk into the pier, looking for Bingfa, Hide's Pignite. Witnesses they have asked said that it had charged straight to Lake Laogai.

"Yeah, that Pignite has ruined our double-confession!" Hide added, scowling as well. They planned to confess to On Ji about their true feelings at a cheap lake-side teashop: that Aang doesn't like her the way she believes, and that Hide has a crush on her even before 'Kuzon' arrived to their school four years ago and vanished after that big party on the cave. On Ji, however, doe not share the same feeling to Hide, and she actually wanted to say no even if Bingfa didn't embarrass the three of them and running wild straight to Lake Laogai, annihilating a cart full of cabbages and nearly hitting Jeong Jeong and Xue, leaving a wasteful amount of burnt cabbage, a wet firebending master, a wet waterbending Gardevoir, and a drenched Emboar.

As the two lads *_**A/N: I doubt if Aang qualifies as a lad, since chronologically he's one hundred and sixteen years old by now :p**_* arrives at the pier,the first thing they noticed is Jeong Jeong. Both bowed before him, for different reasons. For Aang, he was once his firebending pupil. For Hide, he is his superior.

"How are you today?" Jeong Jeong asked to both of them.

"Not good. We are embarrassed by... wait, what's that?" Aang's speech is halted as he seen an Emboar on the pier.

"Is that... Bingfa?" asked Hide.

"Perhaps. It came here enveloped in white light and crackling," Xue answered in a soft voice.

A few moments later, Hikari arrives on the scene. She wore red inner shirt that barely reveals her stomach under dark blue shoulder pad, a blue shorts that just reaches below her knees, a light blue scarf tied on the top of her shorts, as well as the white lotus mantle around her neck and shoulders over her blue shoulder pad. Her brownish-black hair barely bypasses her shoulders. After a 'training session', she plans to meet Xue on the aforementioned pier on Lake Laogai for Xue's eighth birthday. They were looking to stroll around the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se, looking for a cheap, tasty food for the two of them after Hikari takes off her lotus mantle on their 'home'.

'Great, more the merrier, I guess?' mumbled Hikari, as she notices more peoples than expected on the pier. She approaches them without bothering to remove the mantle. Indeed, other than Xue, she also met Jeong Jeong, Hide, Bingfa, and Aang. Bingfa is still lying unconscious.

After she bowed before Jeong Jeong – and performed the Lotus' 'secret handshake' with him, and then Hide – she was going to bow before Aang, but he says in a modest yet mysterious way, "Not now, please. There's something waiting for you." Before Hikari knew it, Xue rushes to give Hikari a bear hug.

"Okay, okay, Xue, not now," Hikari nervously said as she stumbled backward.

'How's training?' asked Xue telepathically after she loosened the hug. This way, she wishes to have a private line with Hikari.

'Not bad,' she whispered.

"NOOO~ MY CABBAGES~," a man moaned after witnessing the fate of his cabbages, only to attract attention from the entire Eastern Laogai Lakefront and be captured by the Dai Li soon after. Only then Bingfa got conscious. By the way, the Dai Li got a new headquarter near the Royal Palace after they got their underwater base seized a few months before the Hundred Years' War was over.

"What was that?" asked Hide. Everyone else shrugs their shoulders, even Bingfa. Bingfa had completely no idea that it was because of his rampage straight to the lake he decimated the cabbage cart.

_Fin_

* * *

_-v Omake v-_

* * *

_First day of winter, the Jasmine Dragon..._

"Hikari, have you heard the rumor?" asked Lanhua, a Jasmine Dragon maid, in the kitchen.

"What rumor?" Hikari, another maid, asked in return.

"Jin is going to marry Fire Lord Zuko this spring!" Lanhua hushed. While some of the maids are innocent when it comes to politics, preferring to busy themselves in 'girly businesses', at least three of them, the two included, are Lotus 'junior officers'. The 'Jin' they're speaking of is not a barmaid there, but works on another Lotus-run tea shop on the Middle Ring, and is another Lotus 'junior officer'.

"Nay," Hikari replied shortly. She had never thought that a Fire Lord will marry an Earth Kingdom peasant. More importantly, though, she isn't the 'gossip maniac' type of girl.

"Let's pray she wouldn't stab you to pieces with a spear. She's the best female disciple Hakoda has trained last season," commented Lanhua. Hikari only gulps, seeing that Jin is a heck of a spearwoman she once took out a firebending thug only with a staff.

"Hey, we got a new order from - " roared a man – the clerk – to them. The clerk then continued in lowered intonation "- who were you, Sir?"

"Jeong Jeong," he simply replied.

Behind the kitchen's wall, Ikari, Lanhua's tomboyish Froslass, was playing _pai sho_ against Xue.

* * *

_Meanwhile, in the other side of the Jasmine Dragon..._

"Are you kidding me?" Aang asked in surprise after Iroh told him the news.

"No. In fact, Fire Lord Zuko wants you to be his best man," Iroh added, pointing at Aang.

"Well...," Aang stopped there for a while, unsure if he should attend the marriage, let alone to be his best man, "What happened with Mai?"

"After that incident in Yu Dao, she broke with Zuko for good. We need a wife for him before he reaches twenty, and then this girl, the one we met during our time as a refugee, popped in my mind. I didn't expect the two of them to agree, really," explained Iroh.

"Just go there, Twinkle Toes!" encouraged Toph, giving Aang a punch on his shoulder. "For best effect, ask him to be your best man when you're marrying Katara," she continued jokingly. Her Stoutland barks happily, '_Woof woof!' _as she curls forward and wags her tail.

'Damn you, Blind Bandit,' Aang grumbled while grooming her tomboyish dog.

_**If you didn't understand the affair behind Bingfa's rampage, here's a sketch: Bingfa drunk Hide's ginger tea, and suddenly went 'berserk'. Unable to contain the energy the tea amplified, he evolved, but not without his Wild Charge straight to Lake Laogai, decimating the cabbage cart and nearly smashing into Xue and Jeong Jeong. The two managed to dodge just in time, and he fells down the lake, with evolution finally completed.**_

_**For your information, about one year after the Hundred Years' War (in A:tLA universe, of course, not that medieval Anglo-French conflict! **_**:p**_**), there was an incident involving the Harmony Restoration Movement, where Fire Lord Zuko's actions made Mai left him. For complete information, consider to get a copy of **_**The Promise**_**. **_**:p**

_**How I found the names for the OCs are left to your imagination. For a hint, they're all either Japanese or Chinese in origin. Just remember that Jin, Zuko's bride-to-be, is NOT an OC – she has appeared in **_**Tales of Ba Sing Se**_**. On Ji and Hide are not OCs, too, for they've made an appearance in **_**The Headband_. _****:p**

**_BTW, I plopped 'Bumi sr.' not for no reason: this is to emphasize that it was Aang's childhood friend we're speaking of. In _The Legend of Korra_, there's another Bumi ___****–** I'd _call him_ '_Bumi jr._'_ as... disambiguation, I'd say__ **–** which is actually Aang's _son_._  



End file.
